CDP Institute

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, has announced key data initiatives and approved a Digital Master Plan for 2025. The ASEAN Data Management Framework and ASEAN Model Contractual Clauses focus respectively on guidelines for data governance, and on contractual terms and conditions for use in legal agreements for cross border transfers. The Digital Master Plan will look at bridging markets, expanding digital skills and building a strong and cohesive digital infrastructure for future expansion.

Norway’s Data Protection Agency ruled that it would fine Grindr, the world’s most popular gay dating app, $11.7M after it was found it shared details about its users with at least five ad companies.

Facebook in full privacy reassurance mode Facebook is trying out new tactics to persuade users to opt in to ad tracking and reassure them it respects their privacy.

Comparitech has issued a global biometric study showing what data is being collected and what it is being used for. China ranks at the bottom for privacy. The U.S. ranks fourth-worst. Ireland and Portugal rank high for privacy because of their biometric laws, and EU countries did better than non-EU countries thanks to GDPR. A separate COVID-19 table shows the concerning impact of that data collection.

Little-known CCPA provision could be a game changer, Global Privacy Control advocates believe

A bullish new Markets & Markets report forecasts rapid market growth. Key drivers are needs for: Discovery of structured and unstructured data Keeping pace with privacy regs Improving security compliance COVID-19 data management The pandemic has created strong pressure for businesses to address security concerns, add privacy protections and strategically respond to massive changes in the work environment.

Facebook’s competitor known for its privacy stance of not viewing its users’ posts has gained millions of viewers recently as mainstream platforms face heightened scrutiny. In context, MeWe reports 16 million users, while Facebook claims more than 1.8 billion.

Employee surveillance prompts $12.7M fine of German tech retailer Workplace surveillance is seen by regulators as a major violation and growing concern. A Lower Saxony Commissioner just set their highest fine in response to a German laptop retailer found to be recording videos of employees throughout their facility.

South Africa has raised privacy alarms with a new baby biometrics ID plan. Their proposed policy would collect detailed biometrics, such as photos of eyes, hands, feet, and possibly DNA data on every child born in the country. This would then be linked to parents’ ID numbers and used for all ID documents. Key concerns would be data misuse and the absence of individual consent.

The New York Times has reported that by purchasing sets of phone data from brokers, which includes both foreign and U.S. citizen information, the DIA may be circumventing a law meant to protect against digitally monitoring people’s movements.

UK ICO restarts investigation of adtech practices Concerned that high velocity ad data trading does not keep personal data secure, the UK is initiating audits focusing on digital market platforms. The use of Real Time Bidding (RTB) by data brokers potentially exposes massive amounts of data to hundreds of companies without clear protocols for retention or use and regulators want to ensure privacy is protected.

Employing a multi-layer approach, the cybersecurity system can now access data privacy information while checking data security to reduce risk of breaches.